The Rariety Of The T206 Ty Cobb (Green Portrait)

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Posted By: Jeff Kennedy

Just wanted to see if anyone out there knew the reasoning behind why the Green Portrait version of the Ty Cobb T206 is so much rarer than the other 3 poses. Also if anyone would could come up with an estimated number of how many were actually produced compared to the other cards in the set. For instance, experts have estimated there to only be some 50 Wagners in existence today. Thanks for the input.

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Posted By: jay behrens

I believe all the portraits are only found with 150 series backs. As to numbers, really hard to say. Depending on the 'expert' you talk to, they will tell you there is anywhere between 40 and 100 Wagner's out, but people that I trust in this hobby put that number around 50.

Jay

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Posted By: Eric Angyal

I purchased a T-206 green background portrait from Kit Young at the last Cleveland National and it has a 350 series Sweet Caporal back. I think that many of the portraits are also available in the 350 series.

Eric

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Posted By: warshawlaw

I think I see one or more a week for sale from various sources. Cobb cards just happen to be incredibly popular because of his stature on the short list of greatest players ever and the significance of the T206, plus the desirability of portraits since there are many T206 HOFer collectors who try to assemble portrait-only collections (buying several Bresnahan, Wallace, Huggins, etc. poses is really tedious), plus the perception that the green background is the toughest one of the two.

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Posted By: Hankron

The Green background is scarcer than his Red backgroud, but is far from rare. None of Cobb front poses are tough to find. Obviously, the American Tobacco Company wanted to make sure the popular star was included as much as possible in their products.